The Girl Next Door
by dancelife
Summary: This story takes place at the beginning of season 2, except the gang is going into their senior year. Ryan has just come home to find Marissa and DJ, and Seth finds Summer and Zach. How will the new girl next door heat things up? RM
1. The Dinner

This story takes place at the beginning of season 2, except the gang is going into their senior year. Ryan has just come home to find Marissa and DJ, and Seth finds Summer and Zach. How will the new girl next door heat things up? Mainly RM with bits of SS.

So this fic isn't to follow along with the exact start of season two. Ryan and Seth have come home to find their girls in the arms of different men, and school is about to begin.

The beginning of a new school year: some students look forward to it as a new beginning, a chance to recreate themselves, others anticipate seeing their friends again and getting the daily dose of good gossip. Seth Cohen did not fit into either of these categories. He saw a new school year as another year in hell.

"Registration, sweet. Another year of death breath Seth and getting my shoes peed in," Seth complained into his cereal bowl full of fruit loops. "Oh wait, I have Ryan now, so at least I can get ignored by everyone in the senior class without piss in my shoes."

"Cheers to that," Ryan replied, motioning his spoon towards his brother, clinking their spoon in the air.

"Well, at least you have each other. And what about Summer and Marissa, and their band of wannabe followers," Sandy asked, oblivious to the agony he was putting his two sons under.

"Honestly pop, sometimes your so far behind I wonder how you've managed to stay alive in Newport, but yeah about that, Ryan you wanna take this one or should I?" upon receiving 'the look' shooting from Ryan's blue irises he continued to ramble. "To make a long story short, Marissa's hooking up with the gardener, fails to mention it to Ryan, a fights ensues, and that's over. As for me, well Summer took me leaving as a pussy move, and has moved on to what I like to call the Super Seth Cohen. He's a water-polo player, likes deathcab and comic books, and completely gorgeous."

"Did you just say gorgeous?" Ryan snorted into his coffee mug. "Dude, no wonder she moved on."

"Coming from the guy that just said dude, and I thought Chino was supposed to make you tough."

"But seriously, gorgeous?"

"Well looks like no one's having luck with the ladies then," Sandy commented interrupting the two bickering teens. "I'm still in the doghouse for letting you two leave this summer."

"Well my boys are home now, and that's what important, and if you all come to this dinner tonight you'll be out of the doghouse soon enough," Kirsten replied, entering the kitchen and grabbing a coffee mug from the cupboard. "while you two were gone some new neighbors moved into the Cooper's old house, and since were in the middle of this remodel, were going over there for dinner tonight," after the hearing the groans from around the room she continued, "no excuses and you will like it. While you were all off on your little adventures I was home alone and we have become pretty good friends. They have kids your age and you all owe me this and you know it. Be ready at 7 and look presentable," she said as she grabbed her briefcase and walked towards the door, giving Sandy a quick kiss as she left. "And don't be late for registration either!"

After she was out of earshot Sandy turned to the boys, "Well the boss has spoken, lets get moving. And don't look so down, one of the kids is your age and lets just say she's a hottie."

"UHHHH dad don't ever say that again," Seth yelled as he grabbed his bag, receiving a quick punch in the arm from Ryan. "Ok, so I take by my tough comment, you've definitely gotten stronger, I'm not gonna be able to move my arm for like a month," he cried falling to the ground.

"Lets just get this day over with," Ryan replied, pulling on his messenger bag over his black t-shirt.

Sitting at an unfamiliar dinner table was the last place Ryan Atwood wanted to be. He had just spent most of the day at school registering for classes and helping Seth avoid Summer and the 'new guy'. He had managed to be put in all AP classes, again, and was given an assignment by his counselor to start researching colleges. His soccer coach declared he had 'true raw talent' and wanted him to start conditioning and practicing with a local competitive team to be prepared for the season. 6 a.m. practices started the next morning, and two-a-days began later that week. Adding to the list, he had blown off summer reading thinking he would be stuck in Chino for the rest of his life, and was supposed to be finished with 4 massive novels and a play by the time school started in 2 weeks. The only benefit about being that busy was having more of a reason to avoid Marissa. Marissa. Yet another thing to think about. Yeah, dinner with the new neighbors was not on the top of Ryan's to do list.

"Ryan…" Sandy repeated.

Snapping out of his daze, Ryan knew he had been caught not paying attention at all. His only response was simply "Oh what, sorry?"

"Well Susan here was simply asking about Harbor's honors program, since her daughter will probably be joining this fall," Sandy replied.

"Yeah, she's not exactly thrilled about starting a new school her senior year, but there was just no way around it. Sorry she hasn't shown up yet, she and Landon, our oldest son went to check out UCLA earlier today and haven't been home since," Susan added to the conversation.

Susan and Mark Hastings were the new neighbors next door. The next door as in the Cooper's old house next door. From what Ryan had gathered, Mark was a big-time hockey coach and had just been moved to coach the pro team in Southern California from coaching a Junior Pro team in Nebraska. Susan was in her second marriage, and had two kids from the earlier marriage. The older son was a sophomore at Yale and played hockey there, and the daughter was a senior like himself and Seth. Then there was the younger brother Cameron, who had hardly said a word. Apparently he was going to be a freshman and had been accepted into harbor that day. He fit the mold for a water polo player perfectly. Ending the clan was a pair 5 year old twins who had been sent up to bed earlier in the evening.

"Yeah, well the honors program isn't for everyone, but Dr. Kim wouldn't recommend it unless she was sure you could do it. Did Dr. Kim mention anything to you about it?" Ryan responded, trying to at least sound polite even if he was dying on the inside.

"Well, the thing is, we haven't met with the dean yet. Sarah is convinced that if she can't get into school we'll send her back home for her senior year, so apparently she skipped her meeting. Great way to start off her school year," Susan replied.

"Hah that's funny, so did Ryan…" Seth started, only to be interrupted by the sounds of the door opening and sounds of two people singing journey.

The muffled sounds of "Shit Sarah, were really late, mom's gonna kill us," could be heard moving down a nearby hallway.

"Sorry mom, I guess we didn't think traffic out of L.A. would be that bad on a Friday night, but who knew," a voice said as the door to the dining room opened.

In walked one of the hottest girls Ryan had ever seen. She wore a mid length striped skirt that seemed to make her long golden legs go on forever. Her teal lacoste polo made her look casual and showed off just a tiny bit of skin above her skirt revealing a toned stomach. She had a pretty face and striking gray eyes but her beauty was topped with a head of platinum blonde hair. Suddenly the dinner didn't seem so bad after all. Heck, Ryan did always fall for the girl next door.


	2. The Talk

"Alright, we'll talk about this later. We're almost finished here but go ahead and grab some food if you're hungry. You know Sandy and Kirsten, and these are their boys Seth and Ryan," Susan said.

"Hey, nice to meet you," Landon said, extending his hand toward Ryan. "I'm Landon, and this is my kid sister Sarah." Landon was about 6'4 with shaggy blonde hair and a muscular build.

"Sweet, now I'm just the kid sister, that's not what you said earlier when you wanted me to hook you up with those girls," Sarah replied, receiving a small push from her brother. Extending her hand out to Ryan, she couldn't help but be attracted to him, after all what straight female wouldn't. Turning to Seth she continued, "Sandy and Kirsten have told me so much about you two."

"Sweet, I don't even want to know all the embarrassing stories she's told you. Mom, what did you say?" Seth whined to his parents, sitting back down at the table.

"Nothing to bad Seth, don't worry," Kirsten replied.

"Well, our parents are probably going to be talking for a while, since they always are, so why don't we go out back and chill for a little while," Landon suggested, standing up from the table.

"Sounds good to me, finally an escape," Seth said dramatically as he stood up and followed Landon out the door. Ryan and Sarah followed suit, and as they were leaving, Sarah heard the faint sounds of, "We'll talk about your escape from Harbor later," coming from Susan.

Reaching the pool house, all four teens plopped down on seats, and Landon went to hook up the x-box. For a reason unknown to them all, it felt totally natural to be with one another, and at a first glance, it could have been assumed that the four had been friends for ages, as opposed to meeting 5 minutes ago. Seth, Sarah, and Ryan took up the couch facing the tv, while Landon sat on the floor unwinding the controllers and passing them out. Seth was the first to break the comfortable silence.

"Holy crap, I just realized where I recognized you from," he shouted, turning towards Sarah who looked at him with a shocked face. "You so were on the sports channel this summer."

Upon hearing that statement, Ryan coughed loudly. "Since when do you watch sports?"

"Um, Hello, Luke like forced me to every day this summer. He was pretty much in love with Sarah here, since you're like some famous soccer player. Seriously, he worshipped you, it was disturbing." Seth answered, looking towards Sarah for some answers.

Landon couldn't help but laugh, and after receiving a death glare from his sister, he went back to turning on the T.V. and putting in the game.

"Yeah I guess I'm good at soccer, and I was on ESPN this summer, but seriously, please don't make a big deal out of it. I don't want everyone to think I'm some freak child just because I'm on the Olympic team," Sarah replied, somewhat embarrassed.

"Wow, Olympics, that's huge," Ryan said, utterly impressed. Receiving a death glare from Sarah like Landon had, he decided to drop the subject.

"Alright, well now that you know all about me, time for you two to spill. I know all about you from a certain Summer Roberts, but since I'm not one for taking sides, lets hear what happened this summer," Sarah said, looking at them both. "Seeing their hesitation, she continued. "Look, I already heard one side of the story, but I'm sure that's totally biased, and I may be able to help."

"You want to explain it, or should I," Seth asked looking at Ryan, who just gave him a look. "Alright well here's the deal, you probably know Ryan is from Chino from my mom, he comes to town, now he's my brother, blah blah blah. Well, to make a long story short, Ryan and Marissa break up due to some psyco stalker, he possible impregnates his ex-girlfriend, Ryan and Marissa get back together, and he is forced to leave and go back to Chino to do the responsible thing. Anyway, since I don't want to be stuck in the Newport bubble alone for another year, I sail away to Tahiti, get in a wreck, take a greyhound to Seattle, and spend the summer with my friend Luke and his gay dad. Ryan finds out he's not going to be a daddy, comes and finds me, we come home, find our exes with other people, and here we are," Seth rambled, in one big breath.

"Wow, that's impressive, it took Summer two weeks to get that entire thing out," Sarah said as she noticed Landon walking out of the room talking on his cell phone.

"Wait a second, how do you know Summer, and what has she said about me," Seth asked, now on the edge of his seat.

"I was forced to go to some charity event auction thing, and so she and I talked, since apparently I looked like I 'had the right qualities to be popular'. And, don't worry, she's still totally in love with you, she's just pissed that you left and never called her. Nice move by the way." Before he even had a chance to ask Sarah cut him off, "Yeah, I'll help you get her back," cutting him off again she answered his unasked question. "Yeah I know, I can pretty much read your thoughts, but you would be able to too if you lived with two brothers with endless girl problems," Sarah replied. "My guess is, she'll be calling you soon within the next couple days crying and telling you what a dick you are, and instead of trying to explain yourself, just apologize and agree that you're a horrible person,"

"But…" Seth began.

"Trust me, don't go to her, that will just make things worse." Seeing the look on his face she continued, "Okay, so you already did that, you're going to be getting a call REALLY soon then and you'll have a lot of apologizing to do. Also, don't tell her that you'll do anything to get her back, just claim that you understand why she doesn't want to be with you and that the time you shared was enough. It sounds corny, but trust me, seventeen years of experience," she stated.

As if on cue, the sound of Oasis' Wonderwall could be heard coming out of Seth's pocket. Pulling it out, the name Summer flashing across the screen proved Sarah's theory correct.

"Damn your good," Seth said before he flipped open the phone and walked out of the room for more privacy, leaving Sarah and Ryan alone.


End file.
